I just finished “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult. She has been one of my “go-to” authors for many years, and she never disappoints. Her writing is always easy to get through, her stories engaging, her characters interesting.

“Lone Wolf” focuses on a man who is torn between a life among humans and his own family in particular, and a life in the wild, learning about and living with wolves. Remember the documentary “Grizzly Man”? This is along the same lines, but not as “out there”. In “Grizzly Man”, we watch Timothy Treadwell taping himself as he lives among Grizzly Bears in Alaska, leading ultimately to his death.

Luke, the wolf activist in “Lone Wolf” goes off to live in Canada with wild wolves, but this is a novel and “Grizzly Man’ was a real story. Regardless, “Lone Wolf” is a very educational and good read. You will learn a lot about wolves (probably more than you ever wanted to know).

As usual in Picoult’s novels, we become entangled in the lives of families and professionals who are involved in their lives. Doctors and lawyers play a large role here. An estranged family, with Luke at the center, struggle to understand their feelings about the man who has loved them, left them, confused them, taught them, inspired them and often disappointed them.